Help Wanted
by potterfanxp123
Summary: When Glory decides to go after Dawn in Spiral, Buffy calls in reinforcements to go head to head with her.


Help Wanted: A Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Smallville Crossover

**DISCLAIMER: **_Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ and _Smallville_ are not mine. I claim no stake in their production, and am only playing in their worlds.

The battle with Glory was not going the way they thought it would. She was stronger, faster, more cunning, and had access to more funds than the Watcher's Council. And yet, through all this, her friends had managed to stay with her.

Buffy was thankful for that, if it weren't for Willow, Dawn would have been taken multiple times by now. Glory could be anywhere, do anything at any given time. She was too powerful, to fast, and could take shots from the slayer that'd knock a man as strong as the govinator to the ground.

It didn't help that a cult had showed up in their corner of the California coastline looking for the key's destruction before Glory got to it, or her as the case may be.

She was at her wits end, she was going crazy waiting for the next attack, Glory had been hit by a truck going fifty-five miles per hour, and she'd got up from it, pissed off but unharmed.

There was nothing she could do, and no one they could turn to. So, as they sat there in the RV Spike stole, she tried to figure out a way of saving the day, again.

"Hey," their reason for leaving suddenly enters the room. "I think Anya's gonna try to cook. Wanna come watch the tears and recriminations?"

A small smile appears on the blonde Slayer's face, "Maybe later".

Dawn turns to leave, a small frown on her face, before she closes her eyes and turns back muttering a small "thanks".

"For what?" her sister asks. Dawn looks at her uncomfortably for the time being and sighs. "You know, pretty much everything."

Buffy frowns herself, and says, "yeah, I'm doing a _great_ job."

"You are!" Dawn states, quite firmly. Buffy looks at her a glare aligned in her eyes. "I'm the _Slayer_, the Chosen one. All mystic and defender-y, evil nasties are supposed to flee from me, not the other way around!"

"You're not fleeing," Dawn says with conviction, "you're... moving at a brisk pace."

"Quaintly referred to in some cultures as the big, scaredy runaway."

Dawn comes fully inside the door now, and walks over to her sister, kneeling on the ground beside her. "It's the most amazing thing anyone's ever done for me."

"Well," Buffy said, "It just keeps coming, Glory, Riley, Tara... mom?"

"I know, but there's a bright side." Dawn states firmly.

"There is," Buffy asks. Dawn nods, "At least things can't get any worse, right?"

The bus was shaken suddenly and an arrow shoots inside the cabin and sticks in the wall inches from Buffy's head.

She looks in amusement at Dawn's horror-stricken face, "you know this is _your fault_ for saying that, right?"

Suddenly, there's a thump on the top of the RV, the wheels blowing out as whatever it was out there landed heavily. Buffy smiles, looking out the windows, a red-and-blue blur running through the masses of Knights that had the bus surrounded and flinging them in every direction.

"Anyways, you're right Dawnie, things are looking up. Our reinforcement is here."

Dawn looks at the girl like she's crazy, not having seen what she did, when the bus is suddenly jerked from the bottom. She looks at the ground, streaming lights appearing around them as they moved faster than a speeding bullet away from the masses that were hunting them down.

When the bus was dropped, they were outside of an abandoned gas station, and the door was jerked off of the bus at its hinges. The male that stepped onto the bus was tall, with black hair and the oddest shade of blue eyes anyone on Earth had ever seen. He was scanning the bus, his eyes moving across each and every one of them, which the occupants of the bus had taken to doing.

"Hurry," the man said, his voice commanding in a way that they'd only heard from Buffy before, "they're right behind us. I only slowed them down enough to get you to the rendevous point. Is Anne here?"

Xander stood, as Buffy made her way from the back, and walked up to him, "so, you're Glory's human form, are you? You think we're that stupid, really? Come on, buddy, let's take this outside."

"Xander, that's not Glory." Buffy said, "trust me, he's reinforcements. Hey Kal," she said to the man, seeing the amusement play in his eyes. He turned to her.

"You look more Beautiful then the day I last saw you, Anne. It's good to see you."

Buffy smiled at him, before turning, "So, how long did you say we had?"

"A few minutes, they were pretty insistent, actually. So, why is it I don't remember you mentioning a sister?"

She turned to him, eyes wide, and said, "long story, look, can we get to safety, oh and Spike's a Vampire, can you get him to the inside non-poofy?"

The man, Kal, nodded, said, "Spike?"

The blond Vampire stood, and Kal looked at him, his eyes glowing red for just a minute, before he shook his head, ran over and picked him off of the ground, and was gone in a blur.

"BLOODY HELL," came the cry from inside the store a second later, and the man was back, "next?"

"Dawnie," Buffy said, pushing the girl over. She walked carefully, and was surprised when the man merely looked at her, smiled lightly and picked her up before he was back a second later. Buffy said, "Tara" and then said, "the rest of us can make it on our own, they're the three most important ones right now."

He walked over to Tara, who stared at him in amusement, "the Sun! IT'S BRIGHT! SO PRETTY! The Darkness, it's gone. So pretty!"

He stared at her in astonishment, before he picked her up and ran her to the station too. A few minutes later, there were fires started giving light along the cold corridors, makeshift lamps hanging from the ceiling.

When they were all inside, Kal looked to the man that had been in the driver's seat, blood soaked his stomach. "Why didn't you have me bring him?"

She turned, and said, "GILES! You should have said something."

Giles groaned, and said, "yes, quite right, but I was not thinking clearly at the time, Buffy. I seem to remember lots of blinding pain, forgive me for not asking for help from a total stranger."

Kal ran over as the man collapsed, behind him faster than even Buffy could think about moving, and had him cradled in his arms. He turned to Spike, "is it true Vampires have enhanced strength?"

Spike nodded. "Hold your hand over his wound, you can drink whatever's left on there, it should sustain your healing abilities until the sun sets then we'll see about getting you something better. Will that little bit help?"

Spike held up a packet of pigs blood, "human's better mate, but pig'sll do."

"We got company," Xander said suddenly, "and they've brought a crusade."

"Willow," Buffy said.

"I'm working on it!" Willow said, obvious worry in her voice for Tara. Buffy pushes a large coffee machine over in front of the door, blocking its' path, while Kal was staring at the bleeding mans chest.

"Alright Mister Giles, this will hurt for a bit, but the bleeding will stop until we can get you to a doctor."

Giles screamed in pain, Spike licking his blood covered hand, the wounds on his hand healing, as he stared surprised.

"How the bloody hell?"

"You were saving my life, I assume that counts for something," Giles said, grimacing in pain. Spike shot the man a look of gratitude, before he ran over, as a mace came through a wall, inches from Dawn's head. He pulled her back, yelling as sunlight hit his arm, and he threw her towards the back, behind a refridgerator.

"GO! GO! GO! MOVE IT! COME ON! LETS MOVE!" a barking order came from outside, as seven men rushed the front door, and others attacked the boarded windows one falling every few inches and letting in streams of sunlight.

Spike cursed, and hid behind Dawn, glad too because the back door was starting to inch open behind her when he grabed it.

"Buffy!" She calls, afraid and forgetting Spike was there to protect her. He looked affronted, but could sense her panic. Buffy ran forward, before the door opened, and a man came rushing in, to hit her.

She fell aside, before the man went FLYING through the door, and outside. When he exited another came in, wearing a higher ranking symbol atop his breastplate.

He had a sword in his left hand and pointed it at Xander, who had been watching for someone to enter. "The key?" he merely asked.

Buffy inches forward, throws one of the other knights weapons and hits him in the arm. He drops the sword, and lunges forward, but is caught in a grip stronger than that of the Slayer, as the dark haired man he assumed was harmless holds him there.

"Gregor, meet Kal. Kal's here to fight Glory, and is just itching for a fight. He's as strong as a Hell-god, and on the side of light, want to piss him off?"

"Enemies, fly and fall!" Willow's voice cried out, and a wave of energy rips across the room, Gregor the only one still inside. "Circling arms, raise a wall!"

The sound of several thuds outside are heard, as she says this, and Kal looks outside. He hears the man say, "an energy barrier, a most powerful one."

He turns, "you're a witch? Man I so could have used you last year."

Willow turns to him, confusion written on her face. "I had an encounter with Countess Margret Isobel Thoreau last year."

Her eyes widened and she looked at the book in her hands. "She came back, how?"

"Long story, basically, her essence inhabited the body of her twenty-first century reincarnation and tried to take off where she stopped."

"The stones of power," Giles asked, and the man in his arms perked. "Yeah, anyway, she doesn't have them anymore."

"You have the stones of power," the man in his arms said, "you must return them to their sacred hiding places! They are more powerful than the key!"

"Oh, there's only one stone now, I've already merged them. And, no you don't have to worry about this one, Anne, this one is all on me."

She sighed, relief written on her face. "Thanks."

"Will, how long will this last?"

"Have a day maybe," she said, "or until Heckell and Jeckell punch a whole through it."

"So," Spike asked, "What's the deal with these role-playing rejects?"

Buffy turned to Kal, and nodded to Gregor, "let's find out."

"Bloody hell, mate, aren't your arms tired?"

"No, I get my energy from the sun. It'd take a supernova to make me ever feel tired, or a really bad solar flare."

"Damn," Xander said.

"You sure Scarface here can _habla la English_?" Spike asked.

"You understand me," Buffy said, trying to intimidate him, though Kal had yet to drop him. "Don't you?"

"You were warned we would return, Slayer."

"Took you long enough. What are you supposed to be, some kind of Chief?"

"General," the man sneered.

"General," Buffy repeated, "in charge of what, getting captured?"

"You do not frighten me, Child. The instrument of Chaos must be destroyed."

"I've met a General, he's much more intimidating than you are," Kal remarked. "His daughter is twice that."

"Look at her that way again," Buffy added, "and she'll be the _last thing_ you ever see."

The man growled, kicked Kal in the chest and screamed as an audible snap was heard. He then said, "as I was told, you protect the Key of the beast."

"It's not that simple," Buffy stated, and shot a look at Kal. He nodded, dropped the man, who whimpered in pain. Kal looked at him and said, "So sorry you broke your foot on my chest."

Xander barked of laughter, as Spike walked over and punched Kal, wincing at the residual sound of his wrist snapping. "Bloody hell, you sure have interesting friends, luv."

Gregor seemed recovered enough to talk now. "Yes, the key has been transformed, given breath... life. Yet this makes no difference, the key is the link and the link must be severed. Such is the will of God."

"She doesn't remember anything about being this key you're looking for. The only thing she remembers is growing up with a mother and a sister that love her. What kind of god would demand her life for something she has no control over?"

"We are not your enemy," Buffy stated firmly. "Tell your men to stand down."

"No," Gregor said, looking at Dawn with utter loathing. "It's not her fault, she's human now!"

"Yeah, what about that whole, "thou shalt not kill" clause."

"The key is to dangerous to exist, no matter what form it has been pressed into."

She saw Kal look over at Dawn curiously, and frowned as she felt that penetrating gaze that she remembered briefly summer two years ago.

"KAL! Don't look at my sister like that."

"I'm not, I'm trying to see if she's really pressed energy like he's implying. Heart, kidneys, lungs. Check... brain, definately... oh it's her blood! Oh, that makes since, actually..."

A wail from the next room caught their attention, and Kal turned, watching Tara scrape at her face, dark gashes. He turns to Buffy and she nods.

"Shh, shh, shh," Willow was saying to Tara as he stood at the door."

"What happened," Buffy yelled and Anya yelled through, "I don't know, she just went nuts!"

Tara breaks free, running to the boarded windows and clawed at them. "Time, time, time."

Kal looks outside, and sees one of the men out there muttering, "it's time, it's time".

"No, no, shh! You have nothing to fear, my brother."

"The beast may have taken your mind, but I swear to you she'll never know the taste of your heart!"

Kal watches as the man kills the brother he claimed the man to be in sick fascination.

"Clerics, I want that witches barrier down, now!"

They merely look at him like he's stupid and return to chanting. Kal turns, "they're picking up their chanting, Willow. Can you handle it?"

"Maybe if I had one of the stones of power?" Willow asks. Kal laughs, "they won't work for anyone's hands but mine."

She frowned, but nodded.

"I'm sorry," Buffy was heard from the other side of the room, where Giles still lay in exhausting pain.

"For what?"

"We should have stayed, if we had none of this would have happened," she said, pointing to Spike's hand, Tara and his, Giles, open wound.

"Dont," the man said firmly. "What you did, was necessary. What I've always admired."

"Running away?" Buffy asked, and shared a look with Kal. He nodded, resuming his outside search, but keeping a ear open.

"Being able to place... your heart... above all else. I'm so proud of you... You've come so far...You're everything a watcher, everything _I_ could have hoped for."

"Kal, will he survive without treatment?"

Kal turned to look at Giles, and scanned him with his vision. "He's still bleeding internally, I don't use my abilities on organs, but the cut is large enough that he won't. I'm sorry."

"Willow," Buffy said, using authority in her voice no one, even Kal, would disagree with. "Open a door."

Kal walked behind her, and Xander behind him.

She walked through the barrier. "Speak." the man Kal had yet to identify said.

"One of my friends was hurt when you attacked us."

"And ten of my men are dead. Honorable men, shall we even the score?"

"You lie," she heard Kal say from behind her, his grip on her shoulder one assuring she wouldn't attack in haste. "For a group claiming to be serving your god, you like to disobey his commandments, don't you."

The man glared at him, and was about to retort when Buffy said, "will you let someone come and help him or not?"

"Give quarter to an agent of the beast? What madness would move me to such action?"

She moved to tackle the man, when a grip unlike anything she'd felt previously grabbed her arm. Xander, beside her said, "whoa, whoa! Hey! Uh... this is war, isn't it? And if there's one thing I learned from Sergeant Rocks, it is in war, there are rules."

The man looked unconvinced, like he wanted to attack anyway, forsaking the ancient rules of combat passed down generation to generation.

"Or at least, there should be. If you're as honorable as you think you are... plus, we do have your general forehead guy."

A few minutes later, surrounded by a personal bubble, Willow waved her hand over the phone. Spike was standing beside her, Kal's argument the deciding vote in who should stay and who should go. "I'm stronger and faster than any of you, if they decide to betray us, I'll protect her, alright?"

"Discharge and bring life!"

The phone had a dial tone, Buffy noted when she picked it up for the second time.

"Bloody hell, handier than a Swiss knife. Look, the door on my crypt's got this nasty squeak, maybe you could...?"

Willow glared at him to be quiet, as Buffy began talking on the phone.

"Hey, uh... i... It's Buffy. I need to ask you a really big favor."

"You'll be here in ten minutes? Thanks Ben, I really appreciate it."

She walked back inside, and told Xander to let the General wanna-be go. Inside, she saw Kal looking decidely uncomfortable with the lavish amounts of attention Dawn was placing on him, and Tara was yelling, "Pretty sunlight! Come closer! NOT Dark Not Dark!"

"So, what's the deal with the sunlight?" Buffy asked him. Kal looked at her and said, "Its like I said, I absorb sunlight. My body uses it to power my five senses, and gives me other abilities like superspeed, superstrength, flight... not that I've got that one perfected yet... I can do other things too, things you haven't seen me do yet, like shoot fire from my eyes, I call it 'Heat Vision', and I can see through anything but lead, by contracting the cornea of my eyes."

"X-ray vision! Man, that's so cool, I'd have fun with that," Xander said, forgetting the company of which he occupied. Kal watched amused as Buffy elbowed him in the gut. "I just got really good hearing, I can hear sounds up to two miles away now, it's really awesome, except when I hear someone having... well doing adult things..."

"Oh, you mean you can hear people enjoying the benefits of having many orgasms!" Anya said, "Xander, Kal needs to hear us enjoying our bodies."

"An, you remember that talk?"

She frowned. And looked at Dawn and said, "you're old enough to know these things."

"ANYA!" Buffy said, and Kal chuckled. "Well, so far, that's all."

"So far?" the Slayer said. He nodded, "yeah, I haven't really practiced anything else, I'm pretty much invulnerable, but that's just because my skin is enhanced by the sun. I can prove it, hit me, Anne."

Buffy looked at him, shrugged and punched. Before she got to his face, she clenched her fist and snapped her wrist. She hit his chest hard enough to wind Spike, who didn't breathe, and he only took a step backwards.

"I had to move with the blow, or you'd have broken your wrist."

She nodded and said, "got'cha."

"So, how'd you two meet?" Xander asked. Buffy looked at him, a smirk on her face. "He asked me to go to a concert, I thought he was a demon out to kill the Slayer. So, I accepted, I hadn't had a good fight since I'd left good ol' Sunnyhell. Imagine my surprise when he, not only, takes me to a Five For Fighting Concert, but treats me like a human, still a bit cocky of course, but good enough."

"I," he stopped, "was drugged... they're these stones called Kryptonite that Virgil Swann discovered before his death. Each one affects me differently, a green one can kill me, and a red one... which Anne has, destroys my inhibitions. There are others too, black can separate my yin and yang, and silver makes me psycho."

"He was on red when we met, and... what was it you called me?"

"Intimidatingly beautiful?" Kal asked, and her eyes widened as he remembered. "You then said I was nauseatingly sweet."

She blushed and said, "how'd you remember that?"

"I remember everything. Anyway, to tell the truth, I was going to attack you, I'd been paid a hefty sum to get rid of the Slayer, but Ken snatched the red Kryptonite off of me so fast that I didn't have time to react. Some guy called, "the Mayor" wanted you dead and had this brunette come solicite me for my time.

I saw you as more of a challenge than they did, and decided I wanted to play first, so ergo the entire hell-dimension thing."

She laughed, "yeah, so we're down in the hell-dimension, right, and Kal here decides that the people still down there were lost causes, there'd be no way to save all of the people down there, there were about a hundred of them Giles, and so we could only save the two groups that were new."

"Well, they start saying things like, 'you wont laugh, you wont cry, you will work and only work. You have no name...'," Kal picks up, "and they start asking people, "who are you".

"OH!" Dawn said, "let me finish!" Kal looks at her. She blushes and he nods. "Well, they get to Buffy, and are all like, "and who are you?"

Kal nods. "So Buffy's probably all like, 'I'm **Buffy the Vampire Slayer**, and you are?' Am I right?"

"She said it with much more conviction, but yes, she said exactly that. It was extremely cute, too. She was so... innocent in the way she said it. Personally, Ken and the others were all like, "what, NO!"

"And what is the Phantom Zone?" Buffy asked, changing the subject. "I've wanted to know that since you mentioned it."

Kal, now, was the one looking decidedly uncomfortable. "It's an interdimensional prison, inescapable. The way they were talking made me remember something from my childhood. My father created the Phantom Zone, I just recently found his research how."

"Your father?" Giles asked. The man, now, looked like he'd wish a hole would open and eat him. "My father, Jor-El, of the Planet Krypton."

Silence was the word of the hour, until Xander said, "THAT IS AWESOME! I'm on first name basis with an alien... you are an alien right?"

"I prefer the term intergalactic traveler. That's how I knew Dawn was different, her blood is the only way to open new dimensions, so if... Glory right? Well, if she does get her hands on Dawn, then she'll probably need some blood, really any amount will do, but the more she uses, the better the connection."

"Really feeling the confidence here, Kal," Buffy said. He stopped and said, "I just realized how that sounded, I promise I'll do everything in my power to protect you, Dawn."

She nodded and was about to say something else, when he held up his hand and said, "there's a silver escalade coming down the road and turning into the driveway. A man is sitting inside the car, looking uncomfortable."

"That's Ben, the doctor we called for Giles."

He nodded, "I figured as much." Buffy walked outside, a whole appearing in the bubble for Ben to come through. He grinned as it closed behind him and said, "you forgot to mention the costume party outside."

She grimaced and said, "Sorry." She looked over at Willow, who had finally calmed Tara down enough to be asleep. "I didn't know who else to call."

"No, it's okay. I mean, yeah... not how I pictured seeing you again, but... uh, I'll take what I can get."

Neither Xander, nor Spike liked the connotations in that sentence. For different reasons, of course. Xander was untrusting of many men in Buffy's life, after the disaster his had been. Spike... well he was falling in love with the Slayer, you know. He was the jealous vampire.

"Thank you, for coming," Buffy said, looking at her friends. Ben smiled, and Kal narrowed his eyes as a brief flash of something rode across his skin, "My pleasure."

The entire time, Kal noticed, he was looking at Dawn, not Buffy.

It was a few minutes later when Ben got finished sewing Giles' incisions together, and complemented them on the cauterizing, asking how they did it. Spike held a lighter and said, "takes longer, hurts like hell, but it did its job."

Giles looked at the vampire, amazement and confusion on his face. Then he looked at Kal, who merely nodded his head in acquiescence.

"All right, I've got him stabilized, but there's a lot of damage. We need to get him out of here."

"Well," Buffy said, "I think the guys with the pointy swords kinda have other ideas."

"Don't they always," Ben said.

Buffy looked decidedly uncomfortable a minute later and sighed. "Look, I know this must seem extra "Outer Limits" to you..." but Ben cut her off.

"This, Nah. I've seen things you wouldn't believe."

Kal smirked, "I don't know, I have a pretty vivid imagination."

He noticed the looks he was getting, except from Kal who was watching everything at once, and said, "you know... emergency room, full moon on a Saturday night?"

"Look," Buffy said, drawing attention again. "If this gets to weird, just tell me. I'll understand."

"Don't worry about me," Ben said, "I won't leave till I've worn out my welcome."

Still, Kal noticed, his eyes never left Dawn. He sighed, "look, as good as you've been about this, we need to get you out of here."

Ben looked at him, surprise on his and everyone else's faces. "It's bad enough there are people around here that fight without special talents, but a Doctor is the last person we need on a fighting front. Xander, tell them outside that he's here as a medical healer, and therefore given free reign on any field of battle. His Hippocratic Oath forces him not to take sides."

"Kal," Buffy said, and saw his eyes were set. She wondered what the problem was.

Ben glared at him, and said, "Well, you're right of course. I do need to see if anyone out there's hurt. I'll see you later?" Ben asked.

Kal turned, but Willow was already letting down the whole, where Ben could be heard telling them that he was a healer, and asked if anyone needed any help.

"What was that? I brought him here to help, Kal?"

"Anne, he never took his eyes off of Dawn. After that first sweep of the room, he watched Dawn, even when he worked on Giles. I'm surprised he never slipped, because the wound is so small inside that it's easy to miss without an x-ray."

She stared at Dawn, who had decidedly grown pale and cursed. "Kal, get Dawn as far away as you can!"

"It's too late, he knows she's hear, wherever I take her, I'm tainted just as you are. There are places I can take her, but if she were to gain control of them, she'd be undefeatable."

"One slight problem here, mate," Spike said, unlit cigarette in his mouth, hand covered with bandages. "Ben out there's got too much equipment to be Glory."

Kal focused on the man's stick and sent a brief shot of heat-vision, and Spike, confused, choked on the smoke he'd inhaled.

"Trust me, something wasn't right."

Xander, who'd had the lighter up and lit, looked confused. Kal said, "he's not had any blood, lets not tempt him before its night time."

"He doesn't know about the bloody chip!" Spike said and Xander laughed. "I've a chip in my head, can't attack humans."

"Oh, sorry."

"Nah, not your fault, mate. It's those gov'ment types."

"Yeah, I kind of have this thing about being experimented on in labs."

"Anyway, how're your feelers?" Xander asked the burnt Vampire.

"Nothing compared to the little bits we're gonna be chopped into when the Renaissance Faire kicks the door in, and here we bloody sit."

"Spike, we've got Kal, remember?"

"I doubt he can take them all, Xander. The only way to get them from getting back up is to kill them, and they're humans, as much as I hate to admit it."

"Spike's right," Buffy said, "we can't kill them, but we can't let Glory, or them, get to Dawn. Any suggestions?"

"It's not like we've got any other choice, I mean Kal could lift the Winnebago, but he'd have to fly it above them before we're able to get out of here."

"Yeah, and the sun's going to set soon anyway," Kal said, "and the more I use my powers at night, the longer to recharge them without direct sunlight. Whoever she is, this Glory is smart."

"We could make a break for it, use General Armor-All as a shield, get to the doc's car and..." Spike said, but Xander sighed. "Great plan, And while all the hacking and slashing's going on, what're you going to be doing huh? Throwing migranes at 'em?"

"LOOK, we stay here, we all die. At least this way some of us might get..." Spike said, beginning to get angry.

Buffy sighed, "no."

"We're all gonna make it, I'm not losing anyone. Check the supplies, see if anyone's hungry."

"I'm good, plenty of sunlight left, I'll eat real food when this is over." Kal said. As the others leave the room, Kal walks over and places his hands on her shoulders. "You alright?"

She leans back into his touch, as he begins circling his palms into the nooks and cranies of her tensed shoulders.

"Dissention in the ranks," Gregor said snidely, bringing them out of the first bit of silence they'd had in a while. "Seldom a harbringer of glad tidings."

Buffy stands, walks over and before Kal could react, backhands him across his face, an audible snap as his jawline dislocates. He runs over, wraps his arms around hers and draws her back.

"Anne," he warned. She sighed. "Poor frightened girl," the man said, his jaw popping and groaning as he spoke. It was eerie that someone could talk at all with the pain that caused.

He turns to Kal, "you've no idea what you've gotten yourself into."

"Why don't you tell us," Buffy said.

"Would it make a difference?" He pauses for a second. "What do you know of the Beast?"

"Strong. Fast. Hellgod." Buffy said.

"From a dimension of unspeakable torment." the man said. She nodded. "A demon dimension, I know. She ruled with two other hellgods, right?"

"Along with the Beast, they were the triumverate of suffering and despair. Ruling with equal vengence, but the Beast's powers grew beyond even what they could conceive. As did her lust for pain and misery. They looked upon her, and what she had become, and trembled."

Buffy turned to Kal, nervously and said, "a god, afriad?"

"Such was her power. They feared she would attempt to seize the dimension for herself, and decided to strike first. A great power erupted, in the end they stood victorious over the beast... barely. She was cast out, banished to this lower plane of existance, forced to live and eventually die trapped within the body of a mortal. A newborn male, created as her prison. That is the Beasts only weakness."

"So kill the man and the god dies?" Kal asked. Buffy looked at him, astonishment.

Gregor nodded but said, "Unfortunately, the identity of the human vessel has never been discovered."

"I don't understand, now I've seen Glory, not a whole not going in the hairy chest department."

"You have seen a glimpse of the true Beast, her power was too great to be completely contained. She found a way to escape her mortal prison for brief periods, before her energies are exhausted and she's forced back, into her living cell of meat and bone."

"Ben," Kal stated with certainty. Buffy looked at him, "let's not start that again, we haven't seen anything that will prove you're right, Kal."

"Short of killing him, can we send Ben to another dimension? Glory will live there for all eternity, I'm the only one that can access the dimension, and its a prison anyway, so whoever's there remains for all eternity. I'd give it to her."

"Are you talking about the _Phantom Zone_, Kal?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah, I found a way of sending people there, it strips away your bodies, and you exist and wraith form. There are prisoners from twenty-eight galaxies there already serving torment, adding a hellgod doesn't seem to horrible."

"This plane is inescapable?" Gregor asked. Kal nodded, "It was artificially created by my people, it will hold anyone, I'm sure of it. All we need is the proper way of selling it to her. And, the best thing is, the Key won't even be needed."

"What about the Key?" Dawn asked. Kal looked at her, his expression showing his regrets for her overhearing.

"Dawn!" Buffy exclaimed.

"I want to know". Dawn said.

"The key is almost as old as the Beat itself. Where it came fom, how it was created... the deepest of mysteries. All that is certian is that its power is absolute. Countless generations of my people ahve sacrifiecd their lives in search of it, to destroy it before its wrath could be unleashed."

"But the monks found it first?" Dawn asked, and answered herself.

"Yes, and hid it with their magicks."

"Why didn't they just destroy it, if the key is as dangerous as..." Buffy asked.

"Because they were fools. They thought they could harness its power for the forces of light. They failed and paid with their blood."

Dawn asked a question that had been on their minds for a while. "What do I do, what was I created for?"

Kal sighed in understand. "You were created to open the gates taht separate dimensions. Glory wants to use your power to return home and seize control of the hell she was banished from. Right Gregor?"

"You are truly smart, offworlder."

Buffy laughs at him, drawing surprise from each of them.

"That's it, that's Glory's master plan? To go home?"

"You misunderstand, once the key is activated, it wont just open the gates to the Beast's dimension, it's going to open all the gates. The walls separating realities will crumble, dimensions will bleed into each other, Order will be overthrown and the universe will tumble into chaos, all dark... forever."

Kal laughed this time, scaring them. "She wants to go home, and you think the Key's the only way to get her there? My people long ago created a portal for jumping between dimensions, safely and effectively. If she wants to go, she'll go. Dawn isn't needed."

"That, none-the-less is what you were created for," Gregor said, staring at Dawn. Kal walked over to her, and said, "it's fine, I wont allow any harm to befall you."

She walked away from them without looking back. Kal turned to her, "she'll be alright, Anne. Just give her time, finding out your destinies already been written is something no-one just gets over. She needs to find herself again."

"Know this from experience, do you," the Slayer asks. Kal nods.

She followed her sister, and Kal went outside.

He really didn't want to hear their conversation.

Inside the room, Tara begins to become restless. Willow on one side, and Anya the other, are attempting to feed her something. She's anxious and whimpering. "Come on Tara, you need to eat something."

Tara shook her head, and Anya says, "want me to try?"

"I don't know, I'm getting used to pickin' fruit out of my hair."

Gregor sees Ben standing at the barrier, looking inside longingly. "YOU!"

Ben turns to him. "You are not a part of this, are you?"

Ben looks at Kal, smirks. "No, I'm just a friend of the family."

"Would you die for them?" Gregor asked. Willow had stopped trying to feed Tara to see what was going on.

"Becasue that is what your future holds, if you align yourself with the Slayer, and her misguided people."

Ben glares at him, pounding on the barrier. "IT's my life, and I'll do what I please with it."

"It's not just your life," Gregor continues. "Unimaginalbe legiosn will perish, including everyone here..." he pauses to look around again... "well, maybe not everyone, some people have a destiny greater than a single hellgod. You can stop this," he then stated, "you can stop this and save all their lives by ending one . The little girl, the Key. Destroy it, and the will of the Beast will be broken. She will fade, a distant memory."

And this madness will end."

"One problem, he's out there, we're in here. And, I won't allow him, or you, to hurt Dawn." Kal stated, standing at the door. Ben looked at him, unconvinced and said, "it's the right thing to do."

Suddenly, to everyones surprise, Ben grasps his stomache. Kal stands, his eyes narrowing, as he sees on the genetic level what's happening.

"DAWN, get to the furthest room, Buffy, Spike, stay with her at all times. Do not leave your post. Willow, move the others, and barricade yourselves. NOW!"

They looked at him like he was crazy, as Ben fell to the floor, his yells becoming more feminine as time wore on.

The still hadn't moved. "GO!"

"NO!" a voice commanded them. "HA!"

Before them stood Glory.

Buffy stares in horror, as a chill sweeps across Dawn's spine.

Suddenly, Buffy pushes Dawn behind her, and moves backwards to the other room. "Change of plans, Willow take the others and barricade everyone together."

"What about you?" Buffy says, "Kal?"

"I'll do what I was asked to. Protect Dawn."

Glory smiles at him, and a chill spreads across his spine, also.

"Well," she said, looking at the group inside the barricade. "What do you know, little Ben finally did something right."

"The Beast," Gregor said in horror. His eyes wide as he realizes the large mistake he just made. Kal sighed, "I told you he was different, did I not."

"Hey, it's Gregor!" Glory turned to the bound man, who was trembling in fear. She attempts to enter the barrier, but it holds and Kal turns, Willow is holding Tara's hand tight. She's muttering, "the Darkness... the Sun. It's beautiful!"

Glory frowns, and picks up a hubcap from nearby, and hurls it at the barrier. Willow's sweating now. "Buffy, you asked me to come help, now trust me to know what I'm doing. Get out of here, take Willow and barricade the room with whatever she did earlier."

"Little boy, you have no idea whom your dealing with," Glory said, still not taking her eyes off of Dawn. Kal stood in front of her, and watched her eyes widen.

"You're not of this world, are you? A little alien boy from far away, too insecure to really commit to anyone on this forsaken hellhole of a planet. Join me, and I'll grant you power, immortality."

He stood his ground, as Buffy laid a hand on his shoulder. To anyone else, it would have been a symbolic measure of trust, but to Glory, and Kal himself, it was more. His aura had flashed with power, and he felt strengthened, more than he'd ever felt before in his life.

"Wow, what a shocker. Of course, you'd... you don't know... how ironic is that. Sorry, little boy, but no bond is going to save your life."

He was ready before she even started running, the barrier dropped for the minute needed to re-establish it in the other room, and Glory moved.

She made a sweep for Dawn, but was interrupted by Kal, who caught her hand and threw her from the room, through the wall and into the sun. He moved faster than before, feeling the magic making another barricade, and smiled. Now it was his turn.

Glory stood outside, in the middle of the desert road. Around them lay the scattered remains of the Knights that had attempted to harm them earlier. His attention diverted, Glory came in, punched him in the jawline, and sent him flying backwards. She rushed after him, to make sure he was dead, and what she saw surprised her.

"Oh, fuck." she said, watching him gliding in the air, surprise on his face as much as hers. Then, a grin came over his face and he FLEW towards her, catching her in a flying spear, and raising into the upper atmosphere.

He dropped her, and she had shock written all over her face, but recovered from the fall, and shot towards the road at a rate nearly as fast as he.

Kal landed and ran towards her, catching up to her seconds after she stopped to change direction, and caught her hand. He glared at her, and suddenly, she felt fire on her chest. She screamed in rage at the pain she suddenly felt. Kal then took a breath and shot, his fist connecting with her jawline, and sending _her_ backwards.

"OKAY," Glory said, "now I'm pissed off. This blouse was brand new!"

Kal smirked, but his mirth was short lived. She ran, grabbed him by the neck, and squeezed, her nails digging into his neck and drawing blood. He froze, and headbutt her. Cracking her nose. He pushed away from her, and both watched as their wounds, their injuries healed in the brief seconds they were apart.

"So, you heal fast too. What's your secret?" Glory asked. Kal said, "you first."

"Magic." she said. Kal nodded, "sunlight."

She gazed at the sun, and growled, but before she could take any action, Kal had again rushed toward her, and hit her once in the solar plexus, again in the nose, and the third time in the jaw. It shattered. Glory was furious.

"What are you!" She asked. Kal said, "I'm Kal-El, the last son of Krypton."

She groaned. "Rao!"

Kal, surprised, nodded. She said, "I HATE Kryptonians!"

He smirked. She didn't let him rest for long, shooting forward, wrapping her arm around his neck and squeezing. He reached backwards, to attempt locking his arms, but she dug her knee into his back and smiled at the satisfying crack that resounded. Kal glared at her, bent his knees, and _jumped__ at superspeed, straight to the stratusphere._

She was choking! She couldn't breathe! The sun was shining on him, and renewing his oxygen, but she could not breathe, it was the ultimate torture.

As they prepared for re-entry, Kal positioned her body between his and the Earth, and when they landed, the crater that was made was huge.

Both of their bodies lay, in the center. Each scrambling to get up.

"How?" Glory said. Kal sighed, "I'm the last son, Rao protects me."

Glory snarled at him, her eyes glowing a minuscule amount as she ran toward him, using all of her speed to try and catch him off guard.

When she was close enough, she hit him in the face, the connection like a thunderclap that broke the windows on the Winnebago as the shockwave hit. He flew backwards, into one of the few surrounding cacti that had managed to not be in the center of their crater, and was sitting on the ground, dazed.

She smirked at him, and went over to finish him off, when a gale-force wind hit her, and the surrounding environment turned to that of an ice-rink. She slid, hitting her head on the ice, and slid back as her body froze over.

She was freezing, she'd never been this cold before. Kal glared at her, and disappeared for a second. When he'd returned, a silver bracelet was on his wrist and he was staring at her, a frown on his face.

The ice cracked, and Glory reappeared, her human face blue as she glared at him for a moment before she laughed.

The sound was hollow, as if she'd felt the best the world had to offer, and was tired of it.

"You think you can beat me, Kryptonian. I am a God! I was laying waste to this pathetic planet when your people were speckles of dust in the Rao Galaxy! You're nothing compared to me. When I'm finished with you, the Key will be mine, and there's nothing you, Rao, or the Slayer can do about it!"

"You're wrong, Glory," Kal said, moving faster than she could keep up with, "I can do something about it. This."

He uppercut her into the air, and threw the bracelet after her. It expanded, a vortex opening in the center. A powerful pulling motion caused Glory's eyes to widen as her body was stripped away, leaving her in an etheral, shadow-y form, as screams came from within. She looked at the vortex, and smiled, before a look of shock appeared on her face, and she screamed.

The silver bracelet landed on the ground, in the sky a square sheet of what looked like glass floated, Glory's body was standing there in its demonic glory, punching against it as it floated into the upper stratusphere.

Kal watched it, as Buffy and Willow came running towards him, their eyes never leaving it. He walked over, grabbed the bracelet and placed it on his hand. "For crimes to numerous to mention agains the people of earth, I Kal-El, the last son of Krypton, hereby banish you to the Phantom Zone, where you shall remain for all eternity. So mote it be."

Dawn came running up to him this time, her eyes watering as she jumped into his arms and circled his neck.

"Thank you," she was crying, as he turned towards her sister. Buffy had a gleam in her eye and a smile on her face. He closed his eyes, and hoped, for better or for worse, that he'd done the right thing.

After all, there weren't any innocents in the Phantom Zone, right?

_Epilogue_

The battle with Zod wasn't going very well, the inhabited body of Lex Luthor making sure that Kal-El, and his misfit band of heroes, were unable to come close enough with the green poisonous rock to do any harm.

As the vortex closed around him, Clark's eyes widened as he realized what was going on. He watched as Buffy ran over, punching Zod's inhabited form with her kryptonite-clinched fist, and knocking the man to the ground, dazed and confused.

As a powerful suction pulled him deeper into the abyss, he screamed, pain erupted over his powerless form.

A shadow attacked him, as Glory stood before him, her eyes filled with joy that he'd never seen before.

As a powerful light encircled them all, forcing Glory away from him, he looked into the face of a shrouded figure, the crest of the house of El firmly enclosed in her hand as her foot connected with his face.

"Welcome to the Phantom Zone," she said, and all he could think was, "oh no." 


End file.
